Question from a reader:

Wouldn’t a better word for “intermediate”—regarding the state of the person after death but before the resurrection—be “incomplete” in that God is working in stages, each of which builds on one another. (See II Corinthians 5:1-2.)

Nowhere in the Bible does it say we have an intermediate body but rather an eternal body from God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This, I believe, is a body like Moses’s body, that is not temporary, but rather, incomplete. At the rapture, this incompleted body will be put on by our resurrected physical body. At that time, it will be changed into a physical body that has all the characteristics of Jesus’ resurrected body. (I Corinthians 15) 

Answer from Randy Alcorn:

I understand your position and I suppose it could have some merit, as long as it’s clear this is not like a progressive resurrection. The resurrection will happen all at once at a time yet in the future.

Some people believe in a one-at-a-time resurrection when they die. I know you’re not saying this but I don’t want to give the impression of a partial resurrection or resurrection in stages because I believe Scripture teaches it as a distinct event happening at one time in history.

For more information on the subject of Heaven, see Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven.